Parkour + juggling + wushu + cigar boxes + ...
December 21, 2009 3:54 PM   Subscribe

 
Someone needs to start a FuckYeahWeirdTalents.com tumblr site. And then post this, because that dude was rad.
posted by mathowie at 3:57 PM on December 21, 2009 [2 favorites]


The multi-colored cube juggling was impressive. Maybe some more context on who this guy is would make this post more FPP worthy.
posted by Taft at 3:58 PM on December 21, 2009


Are those boxes magnetic?
posted by delmoi at 4:02 PM on December 21, 2009


What? No cigar box juggling while tumbling on the treadmill on a skateboard? FAIL.

Seriously, pretty cool vid.
posted by racingjs at 4:04 PM on December 21, 2009


I'd never even seen the cigar box thing.

I give up on everything I once thought I was cool for.
posted by cmoj at 4:06 PM on December 21, 2009


When the kids at my son's school who do yoyo tricks see the off-the-wall parkour yoyotrick they're going to... well, they're probably going to need some neckbraces as they try to step up their game. One step at a time guys.

Also, juggling-block-cam was the best part. He should have done the whole video like that.
posted by GuyZero at 4:06 PM on December 21, 2009


these are a few of my favorite things... combined in ways I would not have imagined possible or advisable. NICE
posted by cubby at 4:06 PM on December 21, 2009


Are those boxes magnetic?

Nope.

posted by Mister Moofoo at 4:06 PM on December 21, 2009


The blocks things was good. The other parts made me think "gee, adding juggling does not improve parkour".
posted by smackfu at 4:08 PM on December 21, 2009 [1 favorite]


I'll take "Ninja skills my fat ass will never have no matter how much I skateboard and work out" for $600, Alex.

Imagine being this guy's roommate. "Aung? Why are there toe prints on the ceiling fan? And why is my yo-yo just hanging in midair, spinning endlessly? Have you been fucking with the laws of physics again? You know how much that startles the cats, and it makes it impossible for me to pour milk on cereal."

That said I really wish I could do that weird hand-plant 360 thing he does off the wall, or any of the wall climbs. I understand the concept and can even visualize the motions in my mind but if I went to try it I'd just end up with a busted nose and a crushed ego.
posted by loquacious at 4:09 PM on December 21, 2009 [3 favorites]


The apparent difficulty level was strangely inconsistent. All that wall-running stuff? Looks tricky as hell, and awesome. Somersaults on a treadmill? Maybe there's some reason that's difficult, but it's not apparent.
posted by gurple at 4:24 PM on December 21, 2009


Hmmm, well if this dude deserves his own FPP then Danny McAskill definitely does, but instead he'll have to be content with this link, at least for now
posted by criticalbill at 4:24 PM on December 21, 2009 [2 favorites]


Somersaults on a treadmill? Maybe there's some reason that's difficult, but it's not apparent.

Comedic relief. Same reason why he did that foot dab over the fountain. It's just different and amusing compared to most parkour videos.

But I bet staying on a treadmill doing somersaults is still harder than it looks. He has a Chaplin-esque casual grace that makes it all look too easy. Those wall climbs are insanely hard. The one where he climbs the wall and turns around to jump over the foam stick his friend is holding, and the ones before it including the run over the car hood are like 4 or 5 step wall climbs, but he makes it look all relaxed, effortless and natural.
posted by loquacious at 4:30 PM on December 21, 2009 [1 favorite]


-1 for wearing a helmet when he did the first skateboard trick. No, seriously, that was rad.
posted by doublesix at 4:41 PM on December 21, 2009


I am left to wonder... this is a three-minute video. How many hours of footage of him biffing it are lying on some virtual cutting room floor?

Still, outstanding. I can't do any of that, even in my REM-state adventures.
posted by hippybear at 4:47 PM on December 21, 2009 [1 favorite]


Awesome! Love to see "grownups" still playing with their environment.
posted by LordSludge at 4:50 PM on December 21, 2009 [1 favorite]


criticalbill: Danny's had his day in the sun on the blue already.
posted by Skorgu at 4:51 PM on December 21, 2009


I confess, at first glance I read "wushu" as "washu" and thought for a second someone was posting some sort of bizarre Tenchi Muyo based meme to the blue.
posted by Caduceus at 5:00 PM on December 21, 2009 [1 favorite]


I was not issued the same human body as this guy was. Is there a place I can get a refund, or at the very least exchange for a different one?
posted by maxwelton at 5:06 PM on December 21, 2009 [1 favorite]


His Occupation: Animator. (From his Youtube user page.)

Puts an interesting twist on things. He isn't just doing physics-bending with his body but seems like he's got a job mimicking the physics of things on paper. Fascinating. Living the dream, it looks like. Hats off to him.
posted by krilli at 5:10 PM on December 21, 2009


The Fred Astair of parkour-juggling. Physical skills and artistic grace are a dynamite combination.
posted by binturong at 5:13 PM on December 21, 2009


Cigar box juggling has been around, well, probably as long as cigar boxes. See W.C Fields doing it starting at 2:50 here.
posted by beowulf573 at 5:21 PM on December 21, 2009


On the subject of cigar-box juggling, you can watch W. C. Fields have a go.
posted by stilist at 5:23 PM on December 21, 2009 [3 favorites]


Confound it, beowulf!
posted by stilist at 5:24 PM on December 21, 2009


I am left to wonder... this is a three-minute video. How many hours of footage of him biffing it are lying on some virtual cutting room floor?

Favorited because I haven't heard anyone say 'biffing it' since I was 13, which both made me laugh and feel young. Thank you, sir.

Also, that chair flip was really boss.
posted by Pecinpah at 5:27 PM on December 21, 2009 [1 favorite]


it's hard to tell how much is intended to be funny because a lot of this is hilarious. jumping in to pants that you are holding, unexpected juggling, anything involving a razor scooter. it looks like his shtick is getting funnier every year since 2005. I hope next years is even more ridiculous. there's not enough comedy free running.
posted by mexican at 5:39 PM on December 21, 2009


Doing somersaults on a moving treadmill is difficult partly because you have no leeway laterally and partly because your sense of balance gets thrown off by conflicting visual cues but mostly because you are forced to do everything with constant forward motion.

This is fantastic. Thank you.
posted by ErWenn at 5:42 PM on December 21, 2009


Thanks! Very, very, cool.
posted by mdrosen at 6:04 PM on December 21, 2009


His wall-running tutorial is worth watching if only for the last tip he gives at the end of the video.
posted by ErWenn at 6:11 PM on December 21, 2009 [1 favorite]


Some of it is awesome, to be sure. About 50% of the first half is just OK. Yay, he can frisbee can lids and catch them on the rebound; but something I could do with 100 takes (lasting only 5 seconds) is not jaw-dropping.

However, the parkour is always fun to watch. I wish he had been a bit more critical of what he included; raised the bar for this video, shortening it if necessary.
posted by IAmBroom at 6:13 PM on December 21, 2009


It's kind of awesome that he, being an animator by trade, could also be his own motion capture model.
posted by fairytale of los angeles at 6:20 PM on December 21, 2009


Damn! Dude is Spider-Man.
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 6:42 PM on December 21, 2009


Outtakes from 2008.
posted by loquacious at 6:51 PM on December 21, 2009 [2 favorites]


Love it. He reminds me of Jackie Chan, with the ability to combine many skills in an effortless and humourous way, the attitude much more about having fun and entertaining than the typical look-at-me video.
posted by MetaMonkey at 7:56 PM on December 21, 2009


I thought that the interest in the simpler things was more in their creativity than in their execution. I've never seen anyone else do the bouncing can lids before, so even if it's a trick anyone can do, it's still interesting to see. In fact, it's almost more interesting to see those because it might inspire the viewer to learn a cool party trick (he gives some advice on how to do that particular trick in one of his tutorial videos). "Stepping" on the water fountain is possibly only a tiny bit harder than just jumping over the fountain, but it was a clever idea to even think of trying it.

Also, just because you think you could do it in 100 takes doesn't mean you actually can. Maybe it really is that easy, or maybe it isn't, but I wouldn't trust my own intuition on how hard what he's doing actually is. Maybe these are things you could do in a hundred takes, and maybe it would take a thousand, or ten thousand. It's hard to say until you actually try it yourself. Maybe I'll do just that...
posted by ErWenn at 7:57 PM on December 21, 2009


Okay, IAmBroom, you were right about how easy the chip lid trick is. In fact it was even easier. It took me 1 attempt to make it fly just like the video, 5 to catch one, and 10 tries to catch one cleanly. It's fun!

But I still maintain that it was clever to come up with the idea in the first place.
posted by ErWenn at 8:27 PM on December 21, 2009


ErWenn: thanks for the concession. Fun: yes. I guess I'm just a little jaded by other parkour & OMFGHowDidHeMakeThatShot trick video compilations.
posted by IAmBroom at 8:57 PM on December 21, 2009


I can only watch with envy as he bounds around the place like a video game character. I can't even walk across a room without tripping, apparently over a stray cat hair.
posted by Scattercat at 8:58 PM on December 21, 2009


Cigar Box Juggling.

From the YouTube description:

While going through some old VHS tapes i found the Generation Game Christmas Special from 1993, on the show is an amazing juggler.


Also, this dude is awesome.
posted by lazaruslong at 9:07 PM on December 21, 2009


Re: cigar boxes, this video, while clearly vintage, still has my favorite example of the art. Fast forward to the 4:00 mark if you just want to see the box action (but you'd be missing out on bar none the most ridiculous set of things anyone's ever done with three hats).
posted by sappidus at 9:14 PM on December 21, 2009 [1 favorite]


Oh man, someone beat me to a Kris Kremo link! Never thought I'd see the day.

And I agree, AZO is pretty ace.
posted by sappidus at 9:15 PM on December 21, 2009


Heh, jinx on Kris Kremo, sappidus.
posted by lazaruslong at 9:15 PM on December 21, 2009


This sure looks like it was filmed in Seattle ... some of the scenes look like they were filmed at Gas Works Park.
posted by Araucaria at 9:34 PM on December 21, 2009


After seeing the 2008 and 2007 show reels, I know that he's definitely in Seattle. There's a shot of the Space Needle in his 2008 reel.
posted by Araucaria at 9:53 PM on December 21, 2009


I can only watch with envy as he bounds around the place like a video game character.

Heh, that's because he IS a video game character.

No seriously. I used to work with him. He is an animator in the video game industry, as well as, naturally, doing mocap work.

Yes, this guy who can juggle while simultaneously backflipping all over the place, is also a video game developer.
posted by Durhey at 10:35 PM on December 21, 2009 [1 favorite]


I thought that the interest in the simpler things was more in their creativity than in their execution.

Having had my initial suspicion that he does mocap work confirmed above, I suspect that the shots of the simpler things are intended to show potential employers that he does very specific things extremely precisely, which is what you're really looking for when you capture a performance like that. It is a demo reel, after all, and demo reels get you job offers.
posted by fairytale of los angeles at 10:56 PM on December 21, 2009


This man is almost literally everything I wanted to be in middle school. How much I now realize I now disappoint myself.
posted by DoctorFedora at 1:31 AM on December 22, 2009 [1 favorite]


I've seen almost all of those skills before... but possessed by the same guy?? That is some incredible range. Incredible.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 3:01 AM on December 22, 2009


Awesome.

Maybe some more context on who this guy is would make this post more FPP worthy.

No.
posted by OmieWise at 5:37 AM on December 22, 2009


I thought this guy's day job was training Remo Williams.
posted by orme at 7:59 AM on December 22, 2009


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